Two Short Accounts of Psycho-analysis, by Sigmund Freud

[p044] Two Short Accounts of Psycho- Analysis. By Sigmund Freud. Penguin Books, 3s. 6d. After the publication of so many works explaining Freud to the public, it is refreshing to read what Freud himself actually said. This little book contains two popular exposi- tions, both given very clearly, of psycho-analysis. The first part con- sists of a series of lectures delivered in 1909, whilst the second, perhaps the best short exposition of psycho- analysis ever given, was written in 1926. The publication of these two works together not only serves as a good introduction to psycho-analysis, but also shows the growth and development of Freud’s ideas. Finding that in all individuals there was a lack of direct association between different ideas and memories, Freud postulated, without any scien- tific verification, the existence of a mental structure known as the un- conscious—later called the id. The id is alleged to be composed of instinctual urges and desires (mainly of a sexual character) most of which remain unknown and unknowable. Surrounding the id, as it were, is the conscious mind or the ego, as it was later termed. The task of the ego is either to adapt the environ- mental conditions so that instinctual urges will be satisfied, or to direct and steer these urges in such a way that they are dissipated without harm coming to the individual. Neuroses, Freud claimed, are caused by the failure of the underdeveloped ego to deal with instinctual impulses during early childhood, neurotic symptoms being disguised or symbolic forms of repressed instinctual urges. The task of psycho-analysis is to find out, mainly through the analysis of dreams, the true nature of the re- pressed urges and desires. If this is done the conscious mind or ego can readjust itself to them and_ the neurosis is cured. The main objection to Freud’s theories is that they are not scientific. There are few academic psychologists today who believe that psycho- analytical doctrine conforms to the methods and principles of science. However, the rejection of Freud’s theories because they are unscientific does not mean that they should be ignored. Whether we like it or not, psycho-analysis has made an immense impact on human culture, and can- not be contemptuously dismissed. A scientificaliy critical evaluation of Freud is an essential task yet to be accomplished. In making this evalua- tion account must be taken of the fact that, despite his unscientific methods, Freud played, in some re- spects, a progressive role. He was the first to make a really successful attempt to develop the study of human behaviour as a subject stand- ing apart from, and independent of, philosophy and religion. For this he incurred the wrath of the church and, incidentally, of the Nazi Party. In order to emphasise the signifi- cance of Freud’s work we are to a certain extent justified in using the following analogy: Hegel, in ex- pounding the dialectic, made an immense contribution to philosophy despite the fact that he formulated the dialectic idealistically, proclaim- ing it to be the absolute idea. It was left to Marx and Engels to correct Hegel by showing that dialec- tical processes occur in nature and in history, irrespective of our know- ledge of these processes. Freud, by insisting that every idea has a cause related to environmental conditions, made an immense contribution to science, despite the fact that he com- bined this important principle with the idealist conception that human behaviour can be interpreted in terms of the working of the mind as an entity existing separately and apart from the brain. It is now left to scientific psychologists to correct Freud, and, by using verifiable data such as that made available by Pavlov’s experiments, to show the true mechanisms that determine human thought and behaviour. With the above in mind we can say without doubt that this is a useful publication. J.R. Their ‘morality’